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Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire, often shortened to Super Millionaire, is a spin-off to the American version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. This series, as with the original primetime series, is hosted by Regis Philbin. The first five episodes of Super Millionaire aired on ABC during the week of February 22, 2004. It returned for seven additional episodes in May. Those episodes were seen in reruns on the GSN cable network. Gameplay Like the original ABC primetime version of Millionaire, contestants qualify by a toll-free telephone game rather than contestant auditions. Players are presented with five Fastest Finger questions to answer using a telephone keypad. Players who answer all five questions correctly are added into the contestant pool. Ten players are randomly selected from the pool for each show to compete as Fastest Finger players. Gameplay is similar to the traditional Millionaire - contestants answer a series of 15 multiple choice trivia questions and the amounts are not cumulative; the contestant gains a fixed amount of prize money with every subsequent right answer. However, in this version, the dollar values are higher. The board went as follows: The amounts in bold are guaranteed amounts, where the contestant cannot leave the game with less than that value of winnings. Contestants are given the standard three lifelines (50:50, Ask the Audience, and Phone-a-Friend) at the beginning of the game. After the $100,000 question within the top tier, however, the contestant earns two additional lifelines. One is the "Three Wise Men," where a panel of three experts (one of whom is a former Millionaire contestant, and at least one of whom is a female) deliberate and provide an answer within 30 seconds. The other lifeline, "Double Dip," gives the contestant two chances to answer the question; however, the contestant cannot back away from the question if he or she chooses that lifeline, nor can any other lifelines be used. If neither guess is correct, the player leaves with only $100,000. The Double Dip lifeline later returns in for the seventh season of the syndicated show, but is available for the entire game (the 50:50 lifeline has been eliminated). Though it never occurred, it was a possibility (and numerous contestants mentioned it, along with Philbin) that a contestant could save their 50:50 lifeline and use it beyond the $100,000 milestone in conjunction with the Double Dip lifeline to achieve a "no lose scenario" for one of the questions above $100,000. For example, if a contestant used the 50:50 lifeline, the contestant would have 2 choices left, and then if they still did not know the answer to the question they could resort to the Double Dip lifeline, giving them the opportunity to guess twice, without the possibility of not giving the correct answer. On this version of Millionaire, as Philbin always mentioned, the risks are much more extreme. (At the time of Super Millionaire's airing, no one on any version of the U.S. show had answered the $1,000,000 question incorrectly, although several other countries had indeed witnessed these devastating losses. It wasn't until 5 years later that Ken Basin would become the first American contestant to miss the $1,000,000 question during the final episode of 2009's 10th Anniversary primetime revival of Millionaire.) Aftermath Some music scores from Super Millionaire were used for the syndicated version before or after commercial breaks. The Double Dip lifeline returned in Season 7 of the syndicated Millionaire and the 50:50 lifeline was eliminated. In addition, the "Switch the Question" lifeline was also eliminated and replaced with a new lifeline called "Ask the Expert," a modification of the Three Wise Men lifeline in Super Millionaire. Robert "Bob-O" Essig Super Millionaire produced only one millionaire, Robert "Bob-O" Essig, in February 2004. He answered 12 questions to win $1,000,000, but left the game before reaching the $10,000,000 top prize, making him the only winner of at least $1,000,000 who is not a top prize winner. According to Philbin, Bob-O was the first contestant ever to (jokingly) threaten a Phone-a-Friend, saying to his father-in-law, "All right. I'm gonna trust you, Dad. If you're wrong, I know where you live and I have your wife." *'Bob-O's Million Dollar Question:' Episodes * Episode 1 (February 22) Todd Kim ($500,000) Robert Essig (continued) * Episode 2 (February 23) Robert Essig ($1,000,000) Liz Simon ($30,000) Dede Bradley (continued) * Episode 3 (February 24) Dede Bradley ($0 - missed on $5,000) Bengt Pederson ($100,000 - missed on $500,000) Clinton Smith (continued) * Episode 4 (February 26) Clinton Smith ($50,000) Jonathan Criswell ($10,000) Jessica McCartney ($5,000 - missed on $20,000) Michael Koehn ($100,000) * Episode 5 (February 27) Josh Zecher ($50,000) Steven Curtis ($5,000 - missed on $50,000) Scott Hoff (continued) * Episode 6 (May 16) Scott Hoff ($500,000) Judi Stauber ($100,000 - missed on $500,000) * Episode 7 (May 17) Terry Gaston ($50,000) Wayne Forester ($100,000 - missed on $500,000) Devin McMahon (continued) * Episode 8 (May 18) Devin McMahon ($100,000 - missed on $500,000) Mark Ross ($30,000) Rich Crook (continued) * Episode 9 (May 20) Rich Crook ($5,000 - missed on $30,000) Melissa Beyerl ($10,000) Jason Carter ($500,000) Rich Willis (continued) * Episode 10 (May 23) Rich Willis ($5,000 - missed on $30,000) Kim Toncar ($50,000) Matt Dowdle ($5,000 - missed on $10,000) Pat Headley (continued) * Episode 11 (May 24) Pat Headley ($500,000) Daniel Sperry ($5,000 - missed on $20,000) Dan Michelini ($50,000) Amy Green ($50,000) Chris Smith (continued) * Episode 12 (May 25) Chris Smith ($100,000 - missed on $500,000) Amy Whaley ($5,000 - missed on $20,000) Troy Reeves ($5,000 - missed on $30,000) Susan McInnes ($5,000 - missed on $50,000) References External links * Official website * Some episodes (questions etc) Category:Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (U.S. version) Category:Shows Category:Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? versions